The game must go on
by sevenofmine
Summary: To pay for his sins, Detective Hoffman was locked up in the first movie's 'Play Area'. But he was one of John's clostest disciples and of course had a key. Now that he is free again, he plans his revenge. Coincidentally he gets into contact with the NCIS team of DC. Are they regarding their live as privilege or do they need a game to become worthy to survive? Rated 18
1. Prologue

"I don't think so."

"What do you think you're doing? What the fuck do you think you're doing? No. You can't fucking do this to me. Fuck you. No! No!"

"Game over."

The door was closed and it was dark around him. Detective Hoffman spitted on the floor and then retreated to the wall. There needed to be a way out. Jigsaw always left a last possibility. This place was used by Jigsaw.

The saw was gone, no possibility to escape. He felt his surroundings, everything was cold. There was the bathtub. Suddenly he felt chilled. Of course, when the bathwater has run down, with it the key for the chains. And he had had a second one, in case he needed to perform a second test down here. John had given it to him months ago. Hoffman had put it into his jacket.

The jacket he always wore when murdering. He felt into his pockets, his outside pockets and inside pockets. And there it was. His tiny, fucking key. He fumbled it out of the bottom of his pocket and it fell to the ground. He searched it as he couldn't see anything. He grabbed the little piece of metal and tried to put it into the keyhole. He cursed out loud and promised that he'd come back for Gordon.

The chain jumped open and he freed his leg.

"The game must go on," he muttered when he slowly stood up and went toward the door.

His hands grabbed the metal and he threw it aside. The green light was flooding back into the chamber and allowed him to see again. He smiled but then walked straight down the corridor. When Gordon was dealt with, he could continue his purpose.

He would conclude what John had begun, but now he'd do it his own way. No ethics of John, no Amanda to argue with, no Jill who despised him, only he to do what must be done. Teach the people how to start a new life. Decide who is worthy to do so. "The game has just begun," he whispered when he walked up the stairs of the basement.


	2. Tick Tock

Tick-tock

It was a dark night but she still wanted to follow her idea. She knew it was stupid and dangerous and that the street and the area seemed to be doomed. But let us be honest, how big was the chance to get caught by a psychopathic serial killer and never see the daylight again?

There hadn't been a murder for a long time and she didn't know that a new murderer has just escaped from where he was actually thought to die. That this serial murderer didn't want to stay in America, he needed a new environment and had had enough time to establish one.

So she decided to hitchhike to the nearby city where she wanted to join a Silvestre party with her friends. Around eight o'clock she started to walk down Highway 16, also known as the Highway of Tears. Over thirty women have disappeared over night, within seconds they were grabbed and pulled out of the world.

Two killers have been charged yet, both dead already but the murders had continued. She didn't know that she was going to be the victim of another murderer, someone who had killed before, but not yet as the Highway 16-murderer.

She listened to her mp3-player music, she couldn't stand walking, running, sleeping, dreaming without her music and there was nothing else to hear in this abandoned forest, on the street she was walking.

She searched her favorite song but then shortly decided to listen to 'Assassin' by 'Audiomachine'. It doubled the scary effect of the night and without frequent street lights she could also barely see where she was going. But it didn't matter, she found her way and she felt epic with the music, supergirl, nothing could happen to her.

He was listening to epic rock music while driving his car. He liked it and it had helped him through his last combats. He was a trained marine and nothing could scare him, not even the dark street that lay ahead of him. He was rushing past the trees with a sixty miles per hour and hoped that no rabbit would get lost in front of his car. Although, he actually didn't care.

But with "Bring the Pain" from "Brand X Music" there was actually nothing to fear. He had passed the last city a few minutes ago but this street was endless. He has heard some of the histories that have been told but listened to none of them. "Kill 'em all" from Audiomachine was being played, the next song on his CD which he already knew by heart. Was this someone over there, a person?, he thought.

He shook his head. Hitchhiking at this street and at night was dangerous. His light caught the person and he slowed down. Coming nearer he recognized a woman, perhaps eighteen or nineteen years old. He stopped next to her.

"Excuse me, Miss. Can I help you? The streets are dangerous at night."

She smiled at him, nodded: "Yeah, I want to get to the next city. It should be a few miles ahead."

"Come in," he demanded and she entered his car.

"And when it is so dangerous, why are you driving here?" the girl asked. She was perhaps twenty, he thought, but she was nice, brown haired, fair skinned and a beautiful smile that only wanted to fulfill its need. "Black Cauldron" was the next song, Audiomachine.

"I'm a marine, I fear nothing," he laughed.

When she woke up, she remembered the last few moments before she had passed out. It was cold around her and dark. She had been driving with the marine when they had noticed someone with a breakdown. They halted and asked if they could help the guy.

Suddenly, some 'things' appeared. It was the last she remembered. There had been pig masks. The man with the breakdown and another person.

"Hello?" she asked. She couldn't see anything. "Hey. Is that you, Lesley?" he asked.

"Yes," the girl said.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I don't remember. The guy with the car breakdown. And there was someone else."

"Do you see anything?"

"There's something red lighting," she answered.

"Yeah, see it, too," the marine said. And yes, there was a red light, it was a number counting down from two to one. He already thought of the worse but suddenly the light went on.

He was blind for a moment until his eyes got used to the brightness. Then he saw Lesley lying on the ground next to her. There was a kind of fence between them, a net of barbwire through the room. There was no way he could easily go over to her. She looked afraid and nervous. He was concerned but with his Navy training, he wasn't as excited. Somebody always wanted to kill him.

His first guess was that the guys had found him. That the corrupt marines from his former ship wanted him to die here, only because he had decided to do the right thing, he had witnessed their deals and now they made him pay for this.

But his second guess was different. Impossible, he thought. But Leslie and Lieutenant Sean Davis immediately turned around when they heard an uncommon noise behind them. There was a TV screen on Lesley's side. It suddenly began to show snow and then it turned on.

"Hello Lesley.

I'd like to play a game with you. You have spent your past few years on parties, pleasing young boys.

But your mother is ill at home, you don't care for her. No wonder your father left you two. You're mother's dying and you are not feeling responsible. Without pity, you show no respect for your life. Be glad that you are healthy.

Tonight you will have the chance to prove that you don't have too much pity to yourself and fight for your life."

The guy with the mask who was talking to them turned to Davis. He didn't even want to think about how the guy knew where he was standing as this was a video tape.

"Hello Davis.

I wanna play a game with you, too. You're blaming your friends for making illegal deals with smugglers. You will testify against them. But what makes you think you can decide over the other, when no one has yet decided over you.

You left your friend die in war and save your own life. Do you think your life is more worth than those of the other? Today is the time when you can proof your thought."

There was silence for a moment before that person in black coat and with a mask continued speaking:

"You each have one wall with a button on its side. The button is specified for button on Lesley's side can only be pressed by Lieutenant Sean Davis and upside down. The barbwire is the only obstacle in your way.

In fifteen minutes a metal wall will come down from the ceiling and divide the room into two parts. After this happened, you have one minute left to press the right button.

On the other side, where the button has not been pressed or pressed too late, the artificial ventilation will fail and the air will be pulled out of the room, creating a low-pressure. You will explode.

If a button is pressed before the wall is down, it will shut down immediately. If no button is pressed, the conditioning will pull out the air of the whole room. Make your choice. The clock's ticking."

Lesley and Davis stared at each other. It was barbwire.

"How shall we get through _this_?" she asked in panic.

**Please comment. 3:)**


	3. The game

Chapter 2

"What happened?" Gibbs asked when he entered the crime scene a few minutes later after having a big argument with a very 'nice' FBI-agent.

"It was obvious one of those sadistic games. I thought they had stopped," Ducky said when he kneed down next to the first victim.

"Can you explain this?"

"We found a video," Tony said. "They had to play a game for their lives. They had to enter the other side and press a button. None of them succeeded. They both tried to bite through the wire. He had nearly succeeded."

Gibbs nodded.

It was about three hours later and the NCIS was sitting in the near-by police office. "It isn't uncommon that people at the Highway disappear," McGee commented.

"But it's a Jigsaw murder. Jigsaw's dead," Ziva mentioned.

"He has been dead for half a year and still there were murders happening after them."

"The last murder was the death of his wife. After that, nothing else happened," Tony said.

"But his wife couldn't have killed herself. She has been murdered by the use of a reverse bear trap," Ziva corrected him.

"It is supposed that Detective Mark Hoffman has something to do with it. He has disappeared shortly after and he was, despite the fingerprints of this guy Peter Strahm."

"Strahm's body was never found but he was declared dead after his hand was found. It was separated."

"Where did they find it?"

"In a burning warehouse. Look page three in the file," McGee mentioned and Ziva looked it up. She nodded. "But this doesn't help us very much," she said.

They continued searching the rest of the day but didn't come to any useful conclusion. So they decided to take a midnight-dinner in town's Subway until they finally arrived at the hotels. It was very small and already overfilled before they have arrived so that Tony and Ziva, McGee and Ducky had to share a room, luckily for all agents, Gibbs had got his own room. However, Tony and Ziva were happy two have to single beds, which made Tony surer to survive the night. Unfortunately he didn't know that he was not as safe as he thought to be…

It was cold when Tony awoke. Why was it so cold? He turned around until he noticed that he wasn't in a comfortable bed anymore but on a cold stone floor. "Ziva?" he muttered slowly.

"I'm here Tony," she said but her voice seemed far away.

"Where are we?"

"No idea. I can't see anything."

Suddenly, the light went on. There were three neonlights on each side. The room, seven times 5 square meters, was divided into two sides by a high fence. Tony lay on one side, Ziva on the other.

"That's not good," Ziva muttered when they both realized what was happening. Tony felt it first. He was chained to the wall by one of his feet. He tried to crawl a bit over the floor and the chain was becoming longer as it was coming out of a hole on the wall.

"Tony, stop!" Ziva suddenly said. She pointed at her chain. It had become a bit shorter. "We're bound to the same chain. Only one of us can go there," she said and pointed at the middle where there was a table with a glass box on it.

"What is this?" Tony asked.

"No idea…but I've got something here," Ziva said and held it up.

"Can't see. What is it?"

"It's a cassette player, I guess. But there is not tape in it."

"I have a tape here."

"Great, and how are we supposed to play the tape now?"

Tony thought for a while and looked at the chain at his foot. "What if you wrap the cassette player into the chain and I pull it over?" he proposed.

"That's not going to work."

"We need to give it a try!" Tony shouted furiously. Was now the right moment to argue about such things? "Be careful!" he added.

"I always am…who do you think did this to us?"

"I don't wanna scare you…but I think that Jigsaw really is alive."

"But why us?"

"We're trying to investigate. He wants to scare us," Tony said and slowly started pulling the chain. "I think the chain goes along under the floor. I just hope that it is long enough."

They both held their breath until Tony grabbed the cassette player.

"Tony!" Ziva mentioned and pointed at the wall. A big display was activated and counting from 15:00 downward.

"Whatever it means…it's no good," Tony said and put in the cassette.

"Hello Tony, hello Ziva," the tape started with a dark voice talking. "I wanna play a game. You have been hunting bad guys long enough. But you seem to avoid the fundamental basics of your work. Your relationship. You seem to ignore it while other people still struggle for recognition. You should see what you could have had. The following task is easy. For one of you. When you can hear this message, the timer has started to count from 15 minutes downward. The chain to which you are both tied is only long enough for one to reach to the glass box in the middle. In there, you'll find one knife and two glasses. You cannot move the glasses, you cannot touch the bottom as it's covered with knives. Therefore you cannot press it down. You can only reach one of the glasses each. You need one kilo to activate the mechanism. But attention: You cannot use parts of your body. The blood will run through the knife-bottom of the glass and activate the mechanism under the table. The other one will then be able to find the key for the chains in the little box that then just opened in the glass box as well. The one who did not lose the blood will be able to free him-or herself. A door will open and the other one will be free. Only one of you survives if you act fast enough. When the timer has reached zero, the chamber will be flooded with a deadly neurotoxin. Good luck…you'll need it."

First, there was silence.

"I go," Tony then decided and crawled forward.

"No, I go," Ziva said and tried the same until they were both stuck on half way.

"Listen, Ziva. There is no time for an argument."

"Then tell me why you should do this!"

"You're the girl."

"Really? That's your point? Tony, there's the possibility of both of us getting out."

"And how?"

"I'll only have to lose one liter of blood. You can leave this here and get help."

"You'll die. How are you supposed to stop the bleeding? This is no point of discussion!"

"But I won't let you die here alone!"

"If you don't let me go we'll both die in here!" Tony shouted. He was exhausted. He couldn't understand why Ziva didn't let him go. She was the most important thing that ever happened to him.

"Tony…just let me do it," Ziva said and pulled the chains. But Tony did not withdraw. He saw how Ziva started to cry and to shout but she couldn't let her sacrifice herself.

"Let me do it. You go out and get rescue. Ziva! Don't let me hurt you!" he shouted and started to pull the chain. First it worked but then Ziva resisted. "We don't have time for this," he screamed and pointed at the display clock. They only had nine minutes and forty-seven seconds left. They needed to get out.

They both looked at each other for a while. "Do you promise me to get help?" she finally asked.

"Ziva…let me…"

"No. You can get help faster. You are stronger. You need to get out and find an ambulance. And Gibbs."

He hesitated, but finally he nodded. "I love you, Ziva. You should know that."

"I love you, too," she answered and slowly began to crawl forward.

Tony watched her as she stood up and took the knife out of the box. "Good luck," he muttered and closed his eyes. He had seen too much in his life and this wasn't one of the things that he wanted to add to his memory. He heard her scream in pain and when he dared to open his eyes, he saw her arm fully red and the blood was dripping down everywhere. It took half an eternity and the clock was down to three minutes until the little box on his side opened.

"Quickly," he said and due to all her pain, she stumbled backward to give Tony the chance to go. She took of her blouse and started to wrap it around her bleeding arm. She felt so numb, she hardly noticed what was going on.

Tony took the key and looked around. He opened his chain and then threw the key over to Ziva. "See if it works," he said while he walked toward the black metallic door.

"I'll come back for you," Tony promised before he walked through the door. But instead of stepping out into the sunlight, he found himself in a corridor. The walls were made of stone and let him conclude that he must be in a basement. There was another tape player with a tape. He played it while he was walking down the corridor.

"Congratulations Tony, you made it. Ziva sacrificed her own life for yours. But are you worthy to survive. Let us find out. Let us see if you are willing to stay alive for her. Let the games begin…" and without being told, Tony knew that the testing has only just begun…

**The end of this story.**


End file.
